Musical instrument.



A. CERCONE.

MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

APPLICATION man JULY 24. 19KB 1 ,288, 382 Patented Dec. 1?, 1918.

NITED sra'rns rarnnr ornios.

- ANTONIO cartoons, or BURLINGTON, VERMONT.

MUSICAL INSTRUMENT,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ANTONIO CERCONE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Burlington, in the county of Chittenden and State of Vermont, have invented certain new and useful. Improvements in Musical Instruments, of which the followingis a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to musical instruments, and particularly to music boxes.

The general object of the invention is to provide a very simple music box which is .'designed as a childs toy.

1 and 12, the end piece 12 A further object is to provide a music box of this character which is very simple in construction, may be easily operated, and which is not liable to be readily damaged.

Other objects will appear in the course of the following description.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein igure 1 is a longitudinal sectional View of a musical instrument constructed in accordance with my invention;

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional vie taken on a. plane at right angles to Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an end view of the instrument;

Fig. 4 is a section on the same lines as Fig. 2 but showing a modification in the structure.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary transverse sectional view through the hammers 18 and the strips 14% to show the detailed construction of the hammers.

Referring to these figures, 10 designates the body or case of the music box, which is rectangular in cross section and which tapers from one end to the other. The ends of the casing are closed by the end pieces 11 eing formed with a'preferably arcuate and more or less ornamental opening 13. This end piece 12 may be readily removed from its engagement with the body of the casing. Disposed within the body of the casing are a plurality of resilient strips or rods, designated 14, these rods being attached to one wall of the casing 10 by means of an attaching strip 15, and inward of this attaching strip there is disposed a bridge or rib 1!.

As before remarked, these strips 14 are resilient and carry at their free ends the hammers 18. The strips project beyond the hammers, as at 19, and coaoting with these Specification of Letters Patent. p p 17, 191 1, Application filed July 24, 1918. Serial No. 246,560. i

' projecting ends of the strip is a shaft 20 provided with a plurality of tappets 21 disposed in line with the projecting ends of the strips 14-. As illustrated, these tappets project at diametrically opposite points from the shaft 20 so that when the shaft is rotated, each of these strips is lifted and let fall twice for eachrotation of the shaft. The shaft 20 is rotated by means of a crank handle 22 and mounted upon the shaft is a ratchet wheel 23 engaged by a longitudinally extending spring 24: mounted upon one side wall of the casing 10. v

The strips 14have different lengths or are made of diii'erent materials or otherwise constructed so as to have difierent rates of vibration and when the hammers strike the wall of the casing, these strips will be caused to vibrate and give forth a musical sound. If these strips themselves do not give forth a musical sound, still the action of the ham-- mers upon the side wall of the casing will. be to give a drumming sound, whose itch will be determined by the quality of the wood of which the casing is made and by the size of the casing and the column of air contained therein. t is also obvious that strings or metallic strips may be disposed within the casin so as to be struck by these hammers and I have illustrated such a construction in Fig. 4, wherein the strings are designated 25.

l Vhile I have before referred to the strips 14- as being the means whereby musical notes are sounded on this instrument, yet by forming the hammers 18 of dilferent shapes or forming these hammers with differently shaped recesses, as illustrated in Fig. 5, variations in sound may be produced when the hammers strike the wood of the box or case, the Wood of the box or case thus acting as a sounding board.

It will, of course, be understood that any number of hammers or strips 14- may be used and thus increase the range of the instrument.

The operation of this device will be readily understood. It is supported in any suit able manner and the handle is rotated thus causing the tappets to intermittently lift the" strips 14- and their hammers and then let the hammers fly back again against the wall of it may have a large or a small range of sound or pitch so that difierent tunes may b played upon it. 7

Having described my invention What I claim is 1. A musical instrument of the character described comprising a casing, a plurality of resilient strips attached at one end to one side wall of the casing and carrying hammers, a shaft extending through the casing and having tappets en ageable with the respective strips, the sha t being rotatable, the hammers having differently shaped recesses in them to thereby cause the hammers to produce different notes when they strike the wall 0% the casing.

2. 'A musical instrument of the character described comprising a casing forming a sound box gradually taperin from one end to the other, the end wall at t e small end of the casing being imperforate, the opposite end wall having an opening, a plurality of resilient strips attached to the wall of the casing on the inside thereof and adjacent the small end of the casing and extending toward the large end, the free end of each strip carrying a hammer, a shaft extending transversely across the casing andthrough the side walls thereof and havinga plurality of tappet's thereon disposed entirely within the casing and engageable with the strips to intermittently raise and release the strips as the shaft is rotated, and means for rotating the shaft.

\ In testimony whereof I hereunto aflix my signature in the resence of two witnesses. XNTONIO CEROONE.

Witnesses:

SHERMAN R. MOULTON, ELIHU B. TAFT. 

